Senate gun-control hearing a sham

Another dark day for the Constitution occurred April 30 at the New Jersey Senate Law and Public Safety Committee hearing on anti-gun legislation in Trenton. It doesn't matter whether you are a proponent or opponent of this legislation, as a citizen, one has to be dismayed at the methods employed by Senators Norcross, Greenstein, and Sweeney.

It was a little after noon in Committee Room 4 in the Statehouse Annex. The committee meeting had been called to order. An overflow crowd of citizens filled two additional rooms. A press conference held by the senators with victims from Newtown had concluded. Enthusiastic speeches by the senators, in support of the bills at hand, had been completed and their perfunctory call for public comment was issued. Two minutes later a bell rang. It was the first of too many rings to be heard throughout the four-hour public hearing on gun-control legislation.

With each ring, and subsequent silencing of the microphone and therefore the speaker, the First Amendment took another hit. You have the right to be heard but we will set the rules - the government. Whether the speaker was for or against the bills, the committee was too preoccupied to listen or wait. Senators wander in and out of the room.

Four hours allotted for seven bills with two minutes allotted per speaker. One, a 40-page bill, just made public late the evening before, was waiting to be rammed through. It was reminiscent of Gov. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature's late-night Second Amendment massacre.

Was New Jersey to be outdone by any other state? No, after all, our senators repeatedly informed us, throughout the hearing, that we, New Jersey, were No. 2 in the nation in gun control measures with their vision of No. 1 in sight. They seemed to revel in the thought as if they had won a spot in the finals of the NCAA Basketball March Madness with a national championship only a few buckets (votes) away.

An emotional speaker raised his voice and was escorted out of the hearing, at the command of the Committee Chairman, by the State Police. Another voice called out, as the witching hour (4 p.m.) arrived and the final buzzer rang -time's up, no more talk. He had been there all day, took off from work and wanted to be heard. For his efforts he was escorted out. In between several other speakers got the State Police boot. The room was still filled with citizens waiting to be heard.

As the rush to vote commenced immediately at 4 p.m., a stack of documents and a myriad of letters supporting different positions on the bills sat unread, never to be considered. The chairman, at the beginning of the hearing, entreated all to submit documents in lieu of testimony.

The only hope was the rising of the citizens in unison, after the final buzzer, to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, thereby halting the vote and the run to number one for a brief moment in time.

Carol Moken

MORRIS TOWNSHIP

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Senate gun-control hearing a sham

Another dark day for the Constitution occurred April 30 at the New Jersey Senate Law and Public Safety Committee hearing on anti-gun legislation in Trenton.

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